Dreaming of You
by CineMariel
Summary: Annie has a dream about Troy and she can't stop thinking about him.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: ****This is my first Troy and Annie story. It could be a one shot but if you'd like me to continue it let me know :)**

The alarm rings and Annie hits the snooze button. A rarity for her. She desperately tries to hold on to the dream she was having. She was in the woods, she was a princess, she was with-

Oh god.

She leaps out of bed, horrified. She looks at her pillows and blankets accusingly as if it's their fault. But it's not. It is entirely hers.

No, her subconscious. Annie is more than smart enough to know that you have no control over your dreams. Dreams just... happen. Because your subconscious needs to process things.

It is no big deal whatsoever.

As Annie makes her breakfast she desperately tries to control her thoughts. But no matter how hard she thinks about next week's biology exam or the article she wants to write for the Greendale Journal Gazette her thoughts keep drifting back to her dream. She imagines herself back in the woods with-

"Hey Annie!" Troy calls over to her as he emerges from his blanket fort bedroom.

"What do you want?" Annie cries out nervously.

"To say 'hey'," Troy answers awkwardly, clearly confused by her outburst.

Annie curses herself for being so weird. The dream wasn't his fault. And he definitely didn't do anything bad in it. Quite the opposite...

"Sorry," Annie apologizes, attempting to smooth things over "I'm not much of a morning person."

"Yes you are," Troy says, smiling "you're always up before me, you always cook breakfast and you always seem happy about it."

Annie smiles, looking down at her peach ballet flats.

"What's going on?" Troy asks.

"Nothing," Annie blurts out nervously "I just. I almost overslept and it kind of... threw me off."

"Weird dreams?" he asks conversationally.

_He knew! How did he know? How _could_ he know? He doesn't know. There's no way he could know. He might know. No he doesn't._ Annie tried to stop this insane monologue in her head but was relatively unsuccessful. _Well, say something. You're just standing here staring at him like a crazy person. _

"Aliens!" She yelled out.

"Where?" Troy turns around, ready to defend them.

"No," Annie says "in my dreams. I dreamed about aliens. It was really weird and scary. That's why I'm acting like this."

"Oh," Troy says, relieved "because Abed and I don't have a contingency plan for aliens. We've got zombies and cyborgs but not aliens."

Annie laughs.

"I'm serious." Troy says looking upset.

"Oh, I'm so-"

"I'm kidding, Annie." Troy says, smiling.

They both laugh. Annie notices how adorable Troy looks when he laughs and can't help but see him as Huntsman Troy again.

"Hey guys," Abed emerges from the blanket fort.

"Hi Abed," Annie says, a little disappointed that he interrupted her conversation with Troy._ Annie, he lives here too. You've never been bothered by his presence before. Why now?_

Annie shakes her head, clearing her thoughts.

"Bacon?" she asks Troy who nods excitedly.

After breakfast Annie heads downstairs with the boys so they can drive to school. Annie's just about to hop in the backseat when she smells something. Something that immediately reminds her of last night.

"What's that smell?"

"I got us a Christmas tree air freshener," says Abed "so our car will smell like pine trees."

"It smells like the woods in here," Troy chimes in.

"Yeah," Annie says enamored with the smell and struck by the irony "it's nice..."

Troy smiles at her in the rearview mirror as he starts the car and she smiles back.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Sorry it has taken me so long to update. I'm not abandoning the story. It's just hard to find the time to write it. But I wrote another story with a dream sequence and it made me really miss this one. I'll try to update soon. Please let me know if you're still interested in the story. **

They arrived at school and Annie did her best to put the dream out of her mind. It was perfectly normal to have a dream about a friend. But still, she could help but look at Troy in a different light. As they walked to class she found herself smiling at how animatedly he discussed the most recent season finale of Inspector Spacetime with Abed. She admired his passion. Even if it was in a British science fiction television series. She knew that Troy had lost himself for a while when he first came to Greendale. It was great to see him being the kind, open, positive person she knew he could be.

_Maybe the dream was just residual feelings from high school_, Annie thought. She had liked him for so long and now that Troy Barnes, Riverside High's star quarterback, was not only talking to her but was her friend and roommate, maybe that little part of Annie that is still in high school is celebrating. But that's all it is. Just a part of her that barely exists anymore.

Greendale Annie was after her degree in Hospital Administration and wasn't about to let anything distract her. More importantly, she would never let anything interfere with her friendship with Troy. It meant too much to her. They lived together, for Pete's sake.

Annie was still lost in thought as they sat around the study table that afternoon. Britta asked her for her notes, just like always. When Annie offered them to her, she looked confused.

"Is this it?" Britta asked, looking genuinely concerned.

"What?" Annie asked, wondering if something was wrong.

"It's just... you usually write a five page detailed outline of the lecture," Britta explained delicately "...and this is only one."

"I guess I had an off day," Annie admitted.

"Is everything okay?" Shirley asked.

"It's fine," Troy covered for her "Annie had a weird dream."

Annie nodded, but avoided Troy's eyes. It was strange to hear him make excuses for her about a dream about him.

"A sex dream?" Pierce asked.

Everyone groaned.

"You were all thinking it," Pierce mumbled.

Annie's cheeks went bright red.

"No," Troy told him "it was aliens."

"Blorgons?" asked Abed, suddenly intrigued.

"No," Annie told him "just normal green martians, taking over the world. I just didn't get a lot of sleep. I'm sorry."

"Eh, who cares?" Jeff shrugged, "All we have to do is pass."

They moved on, talking about their other classes, but Shirley shot Annie a searching look. If there was one person Annie couldn't fool about her feelings it was Shirley.

"I have to go to the bathroom," Shirley chirped, standing up and looking at Annie pointedly.

"I'll go with you," Annie said, resigning herself to the conversation she was about to have.

"Uhh, me too," Britta added robotically, standing up to join them.

This was going to be weird.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long. I really do love this ship and this story. Just to be clear, in the universe of this story Troy/Britta hasn't happened yet/never happened. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

The bathroom door closed behind them. Shirley checked underneath all the stalls and Britta walked into one to go to the bathroom.

"Britta," Shirley chided. "That's not why we're here."

"But I have to go," Britta insisted.

"After," Shirley said pointedly.

Britta rolled her eyes.

"Spill it, Edison."

Annie blushed.

"It's nothing," Annie insisted, trying not to think of her dream.

"Your mouth might be saying nothing but your face is saying a whole lot of something."

"Well maybe you're just misreading my face!" Annie snapped at her.

"Guys, come on!" Britta yelled. "Tell your story before I'm forced to-"

"Fine," Annie cut her off. "I had a dream last night. And I was in it. And I wasn't alone..."

"Who was with you?" Shirley questioned eagerly.

"Was it Jeff?" Britta asked, forgetting her immediate physical needs.

"No!" Annie made a face. She was over that phase.

"Abed?" Shirley asked.

Annie shook her head.

"Pierce..." Britta tried.

"It was Troy!" Annie blurted out.

"Oh, pumpkin. I thought you were over him, Annie." Shirley said in an especially mothering voice.

"I thought I was too," Annie sighed. "I think it might have started a while ago..."

Britta, sensing a big story ahead, couldn't help herself anymore.

"I'm really sorry," she told Annie before bolting into a stall.

Annie smiled, rolling her eyes fondly.

"Do you want to talk about it, Annie?" Shirley asked.

"There's nothing to talk about," Annie told her. "He's my roommate and my friend. I see him every day. He just worked his way into my subconscious. This kind of thing happens."

"Well, that's very mature of you," Shirley patted her on the shoulder. "But if you wanted to talk about it that would be okay. And if you had feelings for someone that you used to like a long time ago and now see every single day when you wake up in the morning, that would be perfectly normal."

Annie nodded, not liking how much sense Shirley was making.

Britta steps out of the stall and starts to wash her hands.

"So what happened?" she questions.

"Troy noticed that something was off with me this morning and he-"

"No," Britta shook her head. "In the dream. What happened in the dream? Did you two..."

Britta waggled her eyes suggestively.

"Oh," Annie blushed. "No."

Britta made a face. She was clearly disappointed.

"No, it was... romantic." Annie assured her. "It wasn't just- It was..."

Shirley and Annie leaned in.

"Well, I was a princess, Princess Annie. And I was in the woods and I was lost. It was really scary for a while and I couldn't find my way. There were all these thickets and wild animals and for a while I didn't think I'd ever make it out. And then I ran into this mysterious figure and before I could think, I just clocked him. Right in the jaw. I knocked him out completely. But then I got a look at him and realized that he was just a woodsman, Woodsman Troy."

"And then you kissed?" Britta asked.

"No," Annie told her. "There's more."

She told the whole story. Sparing no detail. About Woodsman Troy's smile. About how he swept her up on his horse. The time they fought a group of bandits together. And how they ate together at a campfire she had started with only twigs. How easy it was to be with him. And finally, about the kiss. How he had leaned in to brush some hair out of her eyes and then she took his hand and held it against her cheek. How he leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. How it was gentle, at first. And how it had deepened until Princess Annie's knees went out from under her and Woodsman Troy had to hold her up.

By the end the two were hanging on her every word. When she finished it was like some kind of spell hung over the three of them and no one could break the silence.

"Pssshh," Annie said, uncomfortable with how much she had shared. "It's probably no big deal."

"No big deal!" Shirley cried incredulously. "Woodsman Troy and Princess Annie is the best love story since Titanic."

"Way better than Titanic," Britta confirmed. "Not that I've seen it."

"It was just a dream. It's not a big deal." Annie insisted.

"Annie," Britta spoke with great importance. "I've taken a few psych courses in my day and I can tell you. This means something."

"Not every dream means something." Annie told her. Britta's psych theories were not always winners.

"But this one does," Britta told her. "Because you didn't just sleep with him or kiss him or marry him. You spent time with him, you felt comfortable with him, you built a relationship with him."

Annie looked to Shirley. Hoping that she would roll her eyes like she usually did when Britta tried to "therapize" one of the study group. But Shirley just nodded.

"So what do I do?" Annie asked.

"That's up to you," Shirley told her.

Reaching no real conclusion, the ladies returned to the study room.

"Everything okay?" Troy asked as they sat back down. "You guys were gone a while."

"Everything's cool." Britta said, covering for Annie who was about to make something up about food poisoning.

"Good," Troy smiled at the three of them and Annie smiled back, completely unsure of what to do next.


End file.
